THE Guardian ran an interesting story yesterday on what it describes as the “bullying” of women flying with El Al, Israel's flag carrier. It reports that haredim—ultra-orthodox Jews—are disrupting flights by refusing to sit next to women, as prescribed by their religion.
The problem seems to occur when haredim book seats late and thus cannot control where, and next to whom, they are seated. Should they find the adjacent seat occupied by a woman, the Guardian reports that they sometimes put pressure on her to move (occasionally even offering a cash incentive), even if she is seated with her family. When there is no free space, or the woman refuses to budge, the report continues, haredim sometimes refuse to take their seats, delaying the flight, as happened on a recent plane bound for Tel Aviv from New York.
One flight last week, from New York’s JFK airport to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, descended into chaos according to passengers, after a large group of haredim, or ultra-orthodox Jews, refused to take their seats next to women, in accordance with strict religious customs. […]
[One] passenger on the [New York to Tel Aviv] flight, named only as Galit, said ultra-orthodox passengers had suggested she and her husband sit separately to accommodate their religious requirements. She refused, but added: “I ended up sitting next to a haredi man who jumped out of his seat the moment we had finished taking off and proceeded to stand in the aisle.”
On a different flight, Elana Sztokman, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance, refused to accede to a request to move seats, triggering “frantic negotiations”, she said, between ultra-orthodox men and airline staff.
Remarkably, it seems it is left to the passengers to sort the mess out; El Al staff do not like to get involved. A petition has been posted on change.org demanding that the carrier stand up to this perceived harassment of women. Yet, El Al is not a normal airline. Perhaps more than any other flag carrier, it is the embodiment of a state. Israelis, often feeling under siege, turn to it for safety and reassurance. El Al, therefore, perhaps feels an obligation to accommodate Israel’s sizeable—and fast growing—haredi population. It may well prefer not to make too much fuss.
Haredi Jews might also point out that not sitting next to a woman is a strict requirement of their religion, not a choice. Those with strong religious beliefs should be free to live their lives in whichever way they see fit. But there is one caveat: religion should not be a trump card. Where faith can be accommodated easily it should be. But when it starts to inconvenience others it does not have an automatic right to priority. So when haredi Jews cannot book tickets early enough to ensure they sit together, it seems fair that they politely request that passengers be shifted around. But they should also not expect to be accommodated by right—much the same as when a family finds itself scattered around the cabin. One of the suggested alternatives—that El Al flights be formally segregated by religion or by sex—is no solution whatever. At least, not for those of us who harbour hope for mankind.
